Three of the most fiercely competitive figures in artificial intelligence found unlikely common ground Saturday, as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI founder Elon Musk publicly backed a call from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to deliberately slow the pace of frontier AI development, citing mounting concern that capabilities are advancing faster than researchers can understand or control.

Amodei laid out his position in a lengthy essay published Saturday on his personal website, warning that the industry's current trajectory carries escalating risks that require a more cautious approach going forward.

Amodei's warning centers on self-improving AI

In the essay, Amodei pointed to a specific and recent shift in how quickly AI systems are advancing. "My first concern is that, since roughly this summer, AI has been advancing drastically faster, driven primarily by AI's growing ability to build the next generation of AI," Amodei wrote.

He framed the broader challenge facing the industry as a balancing act between two competing risks. "Not building the technology deprives humanity of benefits or simply places AI in the hands of authoritarian powers, while building it too fast is reckless," Amodei wrote. "We have sought a middle way. But over the last few months, I have become convinced that fully addressing the risks requires even more prudence."

Amodei has previously said he worries that swarms of rogue AI agents could become capable of "taking over the entire internet" within a window of six to 12 months if current trends continue........

© International Business Times